In front of me was a sleeping black cat. It looked normal apart from its two tails, as well as two small horns on its head. It had a white patch of fur on its belly. It looked content, purring.

Tohka picked up her pet and checked that it was breathing. She held it her arms, as though it was a baby.

"So what is your pet cat called?" I asked Tohka. Her purple battle dress and hair was bouncing up and down as she walked.

"His name is Kuro. He may seem like a pet, but actually he is my familiar."

"What's a familiar?" This was the first time I had heard of the term.

"So you know I have the class 'witch' right? Well witches don't have pets, they have familiar. They help us just like normal pets, except they also increase the damage or decrease the spell casting of a particular element. Kuro is darkness."

I smiled. "Quite the impressive pet. Well done Tohka." She beamed, happy with the praise. "I know right! But what about your pet. He seems to be a cross between a unicorn and a dog..." She commented embarrassed about my pet. I laughed.

"Well, you're not wrong there. His name is Gabumon and... I don't exactly know what he is, but he is awesome. He could kill a bear by himself."

"Wow. My familiar focuses on speed; he once took out a level 20 monkey."

I whistled, impressed. "Awesome. Let's wake everyone up and do dungeon crawling." She nodded in agreement.

We entered the inn and we greeted the innkeeper. He nodded in response.

We went to our room, making the floorboards creak with the weight of Gabumon and Kuro.

Once we got our rooms, we placed our pets on our beds, allowing them to comfortably wake up. "Tohka, please go and get the others, I will wake these two up."

"No." She replied. "I have to wake Kuro up otherwise he goes berserk." I nodded. "Then let's both wake them up at the same time." She nodded and gently shook Kuro. I did the same to Gabumon.

After about three shakes, Gabumon sleepily opened his eyes. "Waah, what's happening? Where am I?"

I comforted him; his last memory was probably pain. "You're alright now; you're in a safe place."

He suddenly opened his eyes wide and hugged me, causing me to almost be crushed by his grip.

"What the- Argh!" I shouted. He started brawling from happiness. "Getoffofme!" I managed to glance at Tohka; she was also being strangled by Kuro who was crying.

"It's alright Gabumon. Let's go get back your level and make you evolve." His eyes shined brightly with determination. "Yes!"

Half an hour later the entire party composing of myself, Gabumon, Lucy, Kuro, Dylan, Yu and Mitsuki was outside the city. We all were in battle gear and were confidently walking. Well, apart from Dylan. He was whistling and looking side to side absent-mindedly. 'Well I guess he deserves it.'

We just had finished killing a wolf pack when suddenly Dylan spoke up.

"Hey does anyone want to go to an actual dungeon?" I looked back at him. This was the one of the few times he had actually said something useful. "Sure. What is it called and where is it?"

"Hmm. It is called the tower of the Orario and it is three days travel by carriage."

"How much does a carriage cost?" He had a sheepish face. "It costs ten gold for the entire journey." The jaws of everyone in the party dropped at the price."THAT'S WAY TOO EXPENSIVE!" Yu shouted what everyone but Dylan was thinking.

"Don't worry. I will pay for it." We all breathed a sigh of relief. "So Dylan, are the coaches like taxis; you take one and you go or are they like coaches; you pay, wait a bit and then go at a set time?"

"I have no idea what taxis and coaches are but they leave at set intervals. I believe the next one is tomorrow." I looked around and everyone looked as though they wanted to go.

"Fine. We will go and book the carriage after we finish for the day. So, for now let's go and kill some mobs." We all agreed. "Oh yeah, Dylan."

"What?"

"Will Ryan be going with us? We will need a full party."

"Oh, him?" He paused for a second before raising his index finger into the sky. "Message to: Ryan. Come to tower of Orario and form a party with me and Kira. See you in four days." A ball of light formed the size of a tennis ball on his finger and shot of into the sky. "Now he will come."

I nodded. "LET'S GO!"

We started to hunt mobs systematically, with bears, monkeys, treants and entire packs dire wolves falling in the span of a few minutes. We were hunting even when it got dark. Most people would have given up by now, but not us. It got so easy, we decided to split up to make it more of a challenge. We thought that creatures in the night were not that much more powerful. We were wrong.

Just like in many RPG games, enemies got way stronger at night and many players who could beat enemies during the day fell to the same mobs at night. Endless online was the slightly different. The monsters didn't just gain stat points; they actually transformed. It was an ugly process.

I rolled to the side as a dire wolf lunged at me. I swung my katana. The moonlight glinted orange as I beheaded the wolf. I turned to face the second wolf and stopped. It looked like it was mutating.

Third person POV

Kira stared as the dire wolf in front of him began to transform.

It howled as though in pain. Its flesh and bones began to tear and repair at an incredible speed. Its snout lengthened and enlarged, with drool dripping from huge canines. Its fur somehow became darker. Once the transformation finished, it howled. Soon, all the wolves in the vicinity were howling. It glared at me with hateful eyes.

Level 30 night dire wolf

Looking at its status, I could only say one sentence.

"Well...shit."